John Pletz On Technology

Uptake, an industrial Big Data software company launched by Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell, has reeled in another $117 million from investors.

Baillie Gifford, an investment fund based in Edinburgh, Scotland, led the round, which was Uptake's fourth. The deal, which values Uptake at about $2.3 billion, brings the company's total investment to about $264 million. Previous investors Revolution Growth, a venture fund run by AOL founder Steve Case, and GreatPoint Ventures, also participated.

Uptake plans to use the money to expand more aggressively into industries such as mining, energy and oil and gas, said Greg Goff, the company's chief product officer. "We're continuing to look at global expansion and how we get into other markets," he said.

The company aims to help customers gather data from sensors on equipment in the field, such as locomotives and wind turbines, and analyze it, using the information to spot problems or predict failures.

The funding comes just weeks after Uptake and Caterpillar, a highly visible early customer and backer, renegotiated an extensive partnership. Under terms of the new agreement, Caterpillar took control over its digital strategy, which had been tied closely to Uptake. For its part, Uptake won the right to sell more freely to Caterpillar competitors. Uptake also redeemed Cat's unspecified investment.

"(Baillie Gifford) got to a place where they felt good about it and felt good about us outside of that relationship," Goff said of Baillie Gifford.

Goff declined to disclose revenue or identify customers beyond previously announced partners MidAmerican Energy and BHE Renewables, two Des Moines, Iowa-based units of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and telecom equipment maker Panduit, based in Tinley Park. But he says the company's customers number in the dozens. Uptake also is beginning to sell to small and medium businesses.

"What attracted us to Uptake was the combination of an enormous market opportunity, a demonstrable track record of adding value for customers, and an outstanding team," Gary Robinson, an investment manager with Baillie Gifford, said via e-mail.

The fund is best known in Chicago as the second-largest shareholder in restaurant delivery specialist Grubhub, "but as a firm, we've invested in companies that have improved industrial efficiency in more traditional ways for a long time," Robinson added. "For example, we've owned Swedish industrial equipment manufacturer Atlas Copco in Baillie Gifford portfolios for almost three decades."